South Laurel senior Matt St. John hit one of two from the line with 3.2 seconds and the South Laurel Cardinals lived for another day. The Cardinals advanced to Saturday’s semifinals where they will play the winner of the Harlan County-North Laurel game.
The Cardinals trailed by ten at the half, 30-20 as St. John was strapped with foul trouble and had to sit out most of the second quarter.
South Laurel trailed 40-36 heading into the fourth quarter and rallied for the come-from-behind win. It was St. John who gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 41-40 with 6:38 left in the contest. Blake Sanders gave South Laurel its biggest lead of the contest, 53-48 before Knox Central came back to tie the game at 53-53.
A 3-pointer by Travis Canady and a basket by Tanner Broughton evened the game at 53. Broughton’s basket came with :12 seconds left.
Cody Miller finished his career at Knox Central with a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 18 rebounds.
Matt Gilbert, the Player of the Game, had 18 points to lead the Cardinals.
South Laurel 54, Knox Central 53
Knox Central 15 15 10 13- 53
South Laurel 10 10 16 18- 54
South Laurel (54) – Sanders 6, Wright 5, Watkins 12, Gilbert 18, St. John 13.
Knox Central (53) – Barger 13, Canady 10, Broughton 5, Combs 7, Miller 16, Merida 2.
